He hopes to redeem himself after his Berlin DNF last month.

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Haile Gebrselassie returns to racing later this month in Birmingham, England. Photo: PhotoRun.net

He hopes to redeem himself after his Berlin DNF last month.

Haile Gebrselassie returns to racing later this month in Birmingham, England. Photo: PhotoRun.net

Don’t count him out yet. On October 23, the former world-record holder in the marathon, Haile Gebrselassie, will be racing the inaugural Great Birmingham Run in England.

The Ethiopian star made his announcement this week while in Soweto, South Africa, where he was doing charity work for the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

“To bring the greatest runner of all time, Haile Gebrselassie, to one of the biggest cities in the UK for the first staging of the Bupa Great Birmingham Run will be fantastic,” said Brendan Foster, the chairman of the race directors. “It will offer everyone taking part in what is a very large and impressive field to run with him, and I know from his popularity there in the past, a big crowd will come out to support him and all of the contestants.”

Last month, Gebrselassie’s marathon world record was broken by Kenya’s Patrick Makau at the BMW Berlin Marathon. In that race, the Ethiopian dropped out, citing lung issues. Despite the fact that Gebrselassie is no longer the world’s fastest marathoner he still stands a chance at winning the Birmingham race.